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Ideas

Focus and attention

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Traffic on a rainy motorway with a sign indicating a stranded vehicle and a 40 mph speed limit.

Decision-making

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Why small annoyances can harm us more than big disruptions

A largely forgotten psychological concept helps explain the insidiousness of minor problems – and what to do about it

by Shayla Love

A kitchen with various items including a red coffee dripper on top of a glass, a strainer, a globe, a small clock, a cat-shaped dish, olive oil, soy sauce, pasta in a glass jar, and a reflective black surface.

Habits and routines

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Is it better to live in ‘clock time’ or ‘event time’?

Do you stick to a set schedule, or have a looser relationship to the clock? It can affect more than how you plan your day

by Shayla Love

Many commuters walk towards the camera with varying degrees of blurred faces

Mind and brain

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What is it like to remember all the faces you’ve ever seen?

They’ve been studied by researchers and recruited by police forces, but what’s it actually like to be a super-recogniser?

by Shayla Love

A tabby cat sleeps upon a home office desk next to a laptop and various desk items

Goals and motivation

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Facing a tedious to-do list? This trick could make it easier

The ‘easy addendum effect’: how careful timing of your easier tasks could help you feel better at the end of the day

by Shayla Love

Several children and a teacher interact happily at a table in a classroom, with one boy laughing and a girl in blue looking on.

Learning and education

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This is how to nurture curiosity in children (and yourself)

The curiosity that comes naturally to babies and young children can soon wilt – but there are ways to help it grow

by Shayla Love

Black-and-white image of a person playing the piano, focusing intently on the keys in a dark setting.

Music

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What is it about musical hooks that makes them so catchy?

From hummable riffs to striking lyrics, the catchiest hooks tell us something about the limits of human attention and memory

by Tim Byron & Jadey O’Regan

Silhouette of a lorry driver drinking from a bottle inside the cabin at dusk.

Work and vocation

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Why AI surveillance at work leads to perverse outcomes

In the name of efficiency, workplace AI technologies shift burdens long-assumed by employers onto workers

by Karen Levy

A bowl containing a mobile phone, keychains, earrings, a key, and other small miscellaneous items.

Technology and media

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The pleasure, the pain and the politics of a digital detox

Studying why and how people take digital-media breaks can reveal what individuals and societies value in unmediated spaces

by Trine Syvertsen

Person typing on a laptop at a wooden table, with a pencil case, pens, and sliced peppers. Another person in the background is reading a book.

Focus and attention

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Go on, admit it. You’re multitasking. Here’s how to do it better

Our limited mental resources make multitasking inefficient. As you’re unlikely to stop it, you can learn to do it better

by Virginia Clinton-Lisell

A close-up of a delicate blue flower next to a cluster of small yellow flowers, with a blurred green and yellow background.

Mind and brain

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Slow down, it’s what your brain has been begging for

It’s no small task to live a life of sustained attention. So slow down, and give your brain a break to do its work

by Teodora Stoica

Person sitting cross-legged on the floor with instructions book to assemble flat-pack furniture with a cat getting in the way.

Thinking and intelligence

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When a tricky task makes your brain hurt, here’s what to do

Although thinking hard is a daily experience, psychologists are only just beginning to understand how aversive it can be

by Todd Vogel

Blurry image of a person walking in a park with green grass, trees and an urban background.

Focus and attention

idea

Sometimes, paying attention means we see the world less clearly

Does attention distort knowledge, or am I overthinking it? What visual illusions say about the secret workings of the mind

by Henry Taylor